Corey Yates: Growing with family and a Certified SPF Contractor

A Family of Certified SPF Contractors

Being a business man is just as important to me as my family. Corey, is a certified SPF contractor (spray foam insulation) who is growing his business and his family. Here is how it started.

Years after they first met in ROTC, Ashley passed Corey on the side of the road, where he’d pulled his motorcycle after getting a flat. She called him up later to make sure he was okay, and that was that. “Ever since, we’ve been inseparable and never looked back,” says Corey Yates, owner of Sunlight Contractors of New Orleans.

A year later the two were engaged, and now Ashley and their daughter Mckenzie are Corey’s world. “I strive every day to provide the best life I can for them,” he says.

Today, Ashley and Corey work side by side at Sunlight Contractors along with Corey’s dad Jeff to make New Orleans homes more energy efficient. “It’s not always easy,” says Corey, “Sometimes being family gets lost to business, so it can be rough. The main thing is that you know what the other is capable of and you trust each other. Then you always have that love that will hold you together when normal relationships would wither. In the end, it’s worth it. You get to grow together and do great things together.” Corey also knows the importance of being certified. Corey feels that if you are going to install a product, you must have the credentials. It is the reason Corey became a certified SPF Contractor.

Corey and his family have been doing just that. As a team, they’ve continued to learn and grow, becoming the most certified energy efficiency experts in Louisiana. Corey alone holds six different license classifications from the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors as well as professional certifications from Entergy, the Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance, RESNET, and the EPA.

“The main thing is that you know what the other is capable of and you trust each other.”

But Corey isn’t the sort of man to just gather up licenses. He loves to be active and involved, whether the undertaking is jumping out of a plane, riding a motorcycle, or taking his labrador-boxer mix Boone out on the hunting trail. Rest assured, he’s just as active when it comes to his business. He takes a hands-on approach to each job that comes through Sunlight Contractors’ doors, making sure that all of his customers are satisfied with the quality of the work done. That’s just one reason so many of his customers rave about the attention to detail that they’ve seen go into each house his team has made more energy efficient and eco friendly.

Corey’s best friend Boone on the job.

As an avid outdoorsman, Corey takes a special interest in nature, which means that at the end of his work day, he has a unique sense of pride in what he and his family have accomplished. Not only is he working together with his wife and father and the rest of the Sunlight Contractors team to make members of their community more comfortable and to save them money, they’re also doing work that’s good for the environment. That’s good for business, good for the community, and good for his daughter Mckenzie’s future.